AUBURN, Ala. – Appalachian State University softball split a doubleheader on the second day of the Plainsman Invite, which included its first win of the season.
Game One: App State 5, Evansville 4
The Mountaineers (1-2) found themselves down after the top half of the first inning. The Purple Aces (0-3) plated two runs off of a Mountaineer error for an early 2-0 lead.
In the bottom half, Cynthia Gomez led off with a single to center field. With one out in the inning, Cara Parker smoked a doubled into the left center field gap to cut the lead in half, 2-1.
The game remained 2-1 until the fourth inning when freshman Heather Josey launched a three-run homer to straight away center field. Caroline Chambers walks and Pepper Butler reached via an Evansville error to set the table for the freshman's first career home run.
With a 4-2 lead heading into the fifth, the Purple Aces would rally back. Evansville got an RBI double that ended up scoring a second run due to an Appalachian error to tie the game at 4-4.
A tie game in the bottom of the sixth, Chambers led off the game with a solo homer blasted into the opposite field and over the right field wall. The home run for Chambers was the first of the senior's career and proved to be the game-winning homer for the Mountaineers.
Chambers finished last season with two hits and one RBI. Through three games, the Kings Mountain, N.C. native has five hits and three RBI.
Vanessa Ciocatto got the start and pitched five innings, allowing four runs on four hits and striking out four. Katherine Johnson received the win for 1.1 innings pitched and a strikeout. Alissa Schoelkopf earned the save for punching out the final two outs of the game.
Gomez, Chambers and Josey all led the Mountaineers with two hits each, while Parker, Dani Heichen and Caroline Rogers each tallied one hit in the game.
Game Two: Chattanooga 3, App State 0
In game two, Appalachian dropped a tough battle with former Southern Conference rival UTC by a final of 3-0.
Chattanooga pushed its first run across in the bottom of the third. Sam Taylor doubled in a run for the 1-0 advantage. The 1-0 lead stood until the sixth for the Mocs when they tacked on two more.
Johnson pitched three innings for App State and allowed just one run and two hits, while fanning one batter. Ciocatto pitched the remaining three innings and allowed two runs on three hits, while striking out four.
App State managed five hits in the contest against Taylor Deason. Heichen, Chambers, Butler, Sarah Warnock and Alicia Van Winkle tallied hits for the Mountaineers.
Appalachian's best opportunity in the game came in the top of the seventh. The Apps loaded the bases with two outs, but couldn't scratch anyone across.
The Mountaineers will return to action tomorrow for the final day of the Plainsman Invitational. App State will face-off against George Washington at 12 p.m. ET and the No. 19 Auburn Tigers at 2 p.m. ET.
The game against Auburn will be televised on the SEC Network+, which is only available on the Watch ESPN app or WatchESPN.com.
